Thursday, June 29, 2006

Softball Lesson #8

So our 8th defeat... and what did we learn this week?

8.1 "Illegal Ball"

If while batting the Umpire shouts illegal ball, that means in their opinion the pitch is so pants and rubbish that it's called a ball and you can relax and ignore it.However if you decide to ignore the Umpires 'good eye' and hit the ball.... RUN !!!!Andy thinks if you swing and miss it's a strike.

8.2 Over Running the Base.

If like Michael you are really fast or a juggernaut like Mark, it's sometimes difficult to stop on a base. The best way to slow down is to slide but due to our intimate relationship with ER i won't advise that (this season)So you need to get back on the base. Most often the fielder will be standing on the base with the ball... if so, they have to TAG you. So get any part of your body on the base without them touching you with the ball. I demonstrated the 'crouching tiger spring' to a select audience last nightThis rule also applies if running back to your base if the ball is caught.Once the ball is caught, the batter is out AND all forces are off, so every runner must be TAGGED regardless of which way they are running.I would point out that our queen of second base Vic applied such a tag out after the normally 100% efficient and accurate short stop sold her short. The runner over ran and Vic tagged her and despite the runner thinking they were safe, they were OUT!! well played "Queen Vic"

8.3 Finsbury Flies Bite

My beautiful legs have been badly bitten. So in future I will ignore any comments about me smelling like a toilet duck and liberally apply insect repellent. I suggest people do the same.

8.4 SuperBen's Kryptonite

While there is no doubting the Superness of Super Ben, he unfortunately also has his kryptonite weakness. As soon as the ball hits the bat Ben's entire audio sensory equipment shuts down leaving him completely deaf and unaware of the shouts of fellow team mates. Whether we need to hold up signs or buy Ben a hearing aid is for a future discussion.

1 comment:

Andy is right on the Illegal ball example. If a ball is called 'illegal' by the umpire and a batter swings at it and misses, it becomes a strike. If a batter swings and connects it gets treated like a normal hit, if batted into fair territory, or a foul ball if not.